No Left Turns

Krugman on Taxes

Paul Krugman is tired of hearing that only the rich pay taxes. Of course, he admits, they do pay most federal income taxes, but once we count state and local income taxes, property taxes, and, especially, payroll taxes to fund Medicare and Social Security, taxation tracks more or less evenly with wealth.

The conclusion from this, of course, is that were it not for Medicare and Social Security we would have a far more progressive tax system in this country.

It's also worth pointing out that, as this graph demonstrates, the share of income taxes paid by the wealthiest one percent of Americans has tended to increase with the decline of the top marginal tax rate.

Discussions - 7 Comments

cowgirl

And just think Krugman received a Nobel Prize in Economics.

All one has to do is to go to the IRS website and see "WHO" pays the most taxes. It doesn't take a degree in economics to understand who pays taxes and who doesn't. But Krugman, along with the progressives, liberals, leftists, democrats, socialist and Barack Obama want to turn the failure of their ideology (which is to let the government - them - run the country's economy) into class warfare.

When Liberals cannot refute facts, they use personal attacks on the person stating the facts and of course will attack their children. Proof again that liberalism is a mental illness.

Here is some more fuel to your liberalism fire. My 17- year-old son, who is a junior in high school, took college placement tests at the local Junior College on Friday. He will be attending Junior College in the fall while he is still in high school next year as a senior. He passed all three tests math, reading and writing at freshman college level. My son is still a junior in high school. This is quite an achievement given the fact that 40% of the kids that "graduate from public high school" have to take remedial courses their freshman year in college. Yes, home schooling would be abusive in Liberal terms. I would agree with you on that point.

When I was being expelled from middle school (7th grade) I took similar tests and was reading, writing, and yes my math scores were at a freshman college level. I do not claim to be educated or gifted but lets not be fooled into thinking that makes home schooling a good alternative. I currently have two 15 year old kids in my advanced college courses they both come daily from public school. If you want to compare you child and make a positive impression try to compare them to the top instead of the bottom. After all we should be aiming for the top not merely trying to beat the bottom dwellers.

"If you want to compare you child and make a positive impression try to compare them to the top instead of the bottom"

He is a junior in high school and passed college entrance exams at high levels and will be attending college as senior in high school . The classes he will be taking are transferable to a university/state college. He is not taking "advanced college courses in high school" (he has done that also which is no big deal for him and tested out each year in school at least two grades higher each year he did the testing) he is attending college - there is a difference. If your 15 year olds wanted to attend college that would have to take the same tests and pass them at high levels in order to avoid taking remedial classes - this is how it works in California. Just taking "college level courses" while in high school doesn't get them into college at the levels needed to avoid taking remedial classes.

He is not trying to beat the bottom dwellers, he is trying to get into Vet School. He has to be at the top in order to get in to the Vet School. Vet school is not Paul Krugman's economics 101 where ideology is king. He has got to be at top of his game and that is why he is home schooled and not attending the failed public school system.

Krugman is one of the best columnists in america. Instead of being reflexively partisan folks should pay attention to what he says. Krugman would never put out a graph like that and take it seriously, for good reason. I am not even sure that graph is credible, but any sort of attention to what you are comparing should provoke a rather harsh reaction.

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